NATURAL DISASTERS THE BUSHFIRE

How do bushfires start?? Bushfires are often very large and burn large areas of land. To start bushfires and wildfires need fuel and a spark or flame to ignite the fuel (tress and bushes). Fuel for a bushfire is usually dry wood and leaves. When a spark is added the fuel ignites. The spark can be caused by lightning from a storm, heat being built up inside an object or a human action such as a camp fire.

What do Fires Need To Burn?? In order to stop fires we must remove one or more of these things

What do Fires Need To Burn??

Factors That Cause Bushfires to Spread Quickly High and strong winds Large amounts of dry fuel such as trees and leaves High temperatures Low amounts of water vapour (humidity) in the air The slope of the land the fire is burning. Fires spreads faster up hills and across flat lands than down hills

Science Of Bushfires Australia is often affected by bushfires, more than any other country in the world. During the severe season, there were 5999 bushfires recorded. Today, bushfires wreak havoc across the land, causing significant amounts of damage, destroying buildings and houses, harming livestock, and on occasion, killing humans. A bushfire is a wildfire that burns out of control spreading across vegetated regions of bushland. In order for a bushfire to be catastrophic, the right conditions must be present:

1) Most bushfires happen in times when temperatures are high. After very hot days there is usually thunderstorms. The lightning is a very common way that bushfires ignite. The hot temperatures make a lot of vegetation (plants) become very dry making them great for fuel and easier for fire to burn them. The hot temperatures cause combustion inside objects in bushlands that can cause fires to ignite.

2) Conditions must be dry and have Areas with dense undergrowth Northern Territory the main fire season is during winter and spring In contrast the fire season of the southernmost region occurs during summer and autumn. The most severe bushfires occur south between Adelaide and Sydney. South-eastern Australia, are the most vulnerable to bushfire

3) Australia has very flammable vegetation that acts as great fuel Trees such as eucalypts are especially prone to fire because their leaves have a highly- flammable oil. Dry leaves and bark are especially flammable.